Iran’s Minister of Health and Medical Education, Mohammad-Reza Zafarghandi, recently admitted that the future of the preferred currency for medicine in 2025 remains uncertain. This announcement has heightened concerns over soaring drug prices and potential shortages.
Zafarghandi attributed the country’s drug shortages primarily to liquidity problems stemming from unpaid hospital claims by insurance companies. “This lack of liquidity is the main reason hospitals cannot settle their accounts with pharmacies,” he explained.
Uncertainty Over the Preferred Currency
A key point in Zafarghandi’s remarks was his implicit reference to the possible removal of the preferred currency for medicine. “No decision has been made regarding the preferred currency for medicine for next year,” he noted, leaving room for speculation.
Experts warn that eliminating the preferred currency could lead to dire consequences, such as a scarcity of essential drugs and dramatic price hikes. Even with continued currency allocation, the government’s proposed exchange rate increase from 28,500 to 38,500 tomans in the 2025 budget will further escalate drug prices.
Budgetary Constraints and Alarming Statistics
Mehdi Pirsalehi, head of the Food and Drug Organization, emphasized the need to double the country’s pharmaceutical budget to prevent economic pressure on patients. “A budget of 90 trillion tomans is insufficient. We need at least twice that amount to avoid increasing out-of-pocket payments for patients,” Pirsalehi stated.
Recent parliamentary reports indicate that patient drug costs have risen by over 110% in the past two years. Moreover, nearly 150 commonly used drugs are in short supply, with 65 experiencing acute shortages. This crisis disproportionately affects imported medicines, which are often unavailable domestically, worsening the healthcare system’s predicament.
Impact on Patients and Medical Professionals
The rising costs and shortages have forced some patients to abandon treatment altogether, particularly those needing expensive or rare medications for critical conditions like cancer, heart disease, and transplant recovery. Medicines for mental and neurological disorders are also scarce, further endangering vulnerable populations.
Doctors are increasingly altering treatment plans due to the unavailability or prohibitive cost of certain drugs, often compromising treatment efficacy. Hospitals, too, face challenges, with some delaying procedures due to insufficient medication supplies. On social media, desperate patients frequently seek help locating their prescribed drugs.
Corruption and the Black Market
The pharmaceutical crisis has exacerbated corruption and smuggling, with domestically produced drugs often unavailable in pharmacies but readily found on the black market at exorbitant prices—sometimes exceeding 100 million tomans. This issue has reignited concerns over systemic corruption and poor oversight.
Recent scandals, such as the injection of distilled water instead of chemotherapy drugs at a hospital, have underscored the gaps in the medical supply chain and regulatory oversight. Counterfeit drugs are becoming more prevalent, putting patients’ lives at further risk.
Policy Failures and Dire Predictions
Despite acknowledging the crisis, neither government officials nor parliament members have proposed effective solutions in the 2025 budget. The Supreme Policy Council of the Iranian Pharmacists Association has blamed the central bank’s flawed foreign currency policies for much of the crisis. Delays in purchasing raw materials due to currency shortages and a four trillion tomans deficit in the drug supply chain are compounding the challenges.
Some analysts predict that drug prices could rise by 10 to 15 times in the coming year, surpassing even the staggering 110% increase of the past two years. The head of the Pharmaceutical Equipment Supply Association warned that shortages of medical goods could reach unprecedented levels in 2025.
Social Consequences
The crisis extends beyond economic and medical ramifications, affecting social behavior as well. The financial burden of rising drug costs has led to increased violence against medical staff, with numerous reports of aggressive behavior by frustrated patients and their families.
Many families, unable to afford essential medicines, have been forced to sell homes or other critical assets. In Iran’s current economic climate, these losses are often irreversible, pushing many into deeper poverty.
Conclusion
Without immediate and effective intervention, 2025 could become a critical turning point for Iran’s healthcare system. Failure to act risks not only the health of countless patients but also the stability of the nation’s medical infrastructure.
